Drummer writes book on Manchester Musicians

Timperley drummer writes book on Manchester Musicians

A LOCAL drummer has written a book on the Manchester musicians that inspired him.

In November, Paul Hanley from Timperley, former drummer of the band, The Fall, released his book Leave The Capital.

The book tells the story of the first two professional recording studios outside London, Strawberry and Pluto.

Both studios were started by former members of 60s beat groups and hosted Manchester legends such as The Smiths, Joy Division, Buzzcocks and The Stone Roses. Pluto was also the studio where Manchester classic 'Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs' was recorded.

Paul, 54, said: "I wanted to write this book because I feel that the influence of these sixties pioneers has been overlooked. Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of The Mindbenders and 10cc started Strawberry, and Keith Hopwood and Derek Leckenby of Herman's Hermits started Pluto - Between them they gave Manchester musicians the chance to record on home soil, something which is pretty much unique to here.

"There are so many books published on the likes of The Stone Roses, but I wanted to concentrate on the history before that and show how much that fed into these later musicians."

Paul has always had an interest in writing and when he started an open university degree in English Literature was asked to write a reportage which he completed on The Who in Detroit.

Following this it was published online and the publishers, Route Books, asked him if he wanted to write a book.

Two years later, Paul finished Leave The Capital and has seen great success - he hopes to write his next book on people of Wythenshaw.

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